Continuous Motion Article Arranging Systems and Methods

ABSTRACT

A system, method and an end effector may arrange into a group two articles within a stream of articles moving spaced apart and in a line in a conveying direction on a conveyor. The system, method, and end effector may contact and slow the more downstream of the two articles and then contact the more upstream of the two articles without substantially slowing the more upstream article to form the group. The end effector may include a downstream stop portion for contacting at least one of the articles.

RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application claims filing benefit of U.S. Provisional PatentApplication Ser. No. 61/787,779 having a filing date of Mar. 15, 2013,which is incorporated herein by reference in its entirety.

TECHNICAL FIELD

The present disclosure relates generally to arranging articles providedon a conveyor using a continuous motion device.

BACKGROUND

Articles such as beverages or other consumer product containers areoften wrapped in packages holding a number of the articles before theyare placed on a pallet or divided into laned flows. Therefore, groupingsof 6, 12 or 24 bottles for example may be created and held together viastretch or shrink wrapped plastic, boxes, and/or blanks. These groupingsare then oriented in some fashion to create a pallet load or laned flow.

Typically, the groupings are fed out of a wrapping or other packagingsource individually in a uniform fashion (all aligned the same way) andat a uniform rate (all at the same speed and with the same spacingbetween them). Various devices have been proposed to take the groupingsin such a uniform stream and to place them as desired laterally withinthe stream (for example by moving a grouping left or right from a feedlocation) and to orient them within the stream (for example by turning agrouping 90 degrees) such that they form a desired pallet layerdownstream or such that they are placed into lanes for furtherprocessing downstream. Such concepts can also apply to individualarticles, such as boxes, that are to be palletized. Thus, as notedherein an article may be a single item (such as a box or other item) ormay include a grouping or articles such as a twelve-pack grouping ofcontainers.

Such placement and orientation can be provided by robot arms, by gantrydevices, by orienting conveyors, by pushers or other equipment, or evenby hand. When robot arms or gantry devices are used, the end effectorsmay have an optional grasping function, wherein an article can begrasped between two opposing plates and the article can then be moved toa desired location and/or oriented in a desired way. One or both of theplates can move so that the article is squeezed just tightly enough tomove and place the article, and each such article is moved and placedindividually.

In one common system, as shown in FIG. 13A, flow enters from the left asshown on a first conveyor 10, is transferred to a higher speed gappingconveyor 12 to spread out articles in the direction of travel, and istransferred to a further conveyor 14 where orientation occurs in somefashion. Note that articles A1, A2 and A3 may or may not besubstantially spread apart, while articles A4-A9 are uniformly spreadapart. Such arrangement would typically occur where a constant speedgapping conveyor 12 and further conveyor 14 are running faster thanconstant speed first conveyor 10. In such a conventional system,individual articles are placed and oriented one at a time, as notedabove.

In another conventional system of FIG. 13B, gapping conveyor 12 is a“surge” conveyor driven at a non-constant speed in order to group twoarticles more closely together for handling at once to save placementsteps in forming a pallet layer or in laning. However, use of anon-constant speed conveyor 12 can introduce stability issues forarticles, and the ultimate placement of articles on conveyor 14 may beinconsistent due to acceleration and frictional issues.

Accordingly, improved methods and systems would be welcome for arrangingarticles on a conveyor for forming a pallet layer or laning, addressingdrawbacks of conventional systems or other issues.

SUMMARY

Aspects and advantages of the invention will be set forth in part in thefollowing description, or may be obvious from the description, or may belearned through practice of the invention.

According to certain aspects of the present disclosure, a system isdisclosed for arranging articles within a stream of articles movingspaced apart and in a line in a conveying direction on a conveyor. Thesystem may include an object manipulation device movable and configuredto form a group of two of the articles in the line together bycontacting and slowing the more downstream of the two articles and thencontacting the more upstream of the two articles without substantiallyslowing the more upstream article. Various options and modifications arepossible.

According to certain other aspects of the disclosure, an end effector isdisclosed for an object manipulation device for arranging together intoa group two articles within a stream of articles moving spaced apart andin a line in a conveying direction on a conveyor. The end effector mayinclude a head portion for attachment to the object manipulation device;two lateral side portions attached to the head portion and spaced forreceiving the two articles; and a downstream stop portion for contactinga downstream side of at least one of the two articles. Again, variousoptions and modifications are possible.

According to certain other aspects of the disclosure, a method isdisclosed of using an object manipulation device to arrange two articleswithin a stream of articles moving spaced apart and in a line in aconveying direction on a conveyor. The method may include contacting themore downstream of the two articles; slowing the more downstream of thetwo articles; and maintaining contact with the more downstream of thetwo articles while contacting the more upstream of the two articleswithout substantially slowing the more upstream article to form a groupof the two articles. Again, various options and modifications arepossible.

These and other features, aspects and advantages of the presentinvention will become better understood with reference to the followingdescription and appended claims. The accompanying drawings, which areincorporated in and constitute a part of this specification, illustrateembodiments of the invention and, together with the description, serveto explain the principles of the invention.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A full and enabling disclosure of the present invention, including thebest mode thereof, directed to one of ordinary skill in the art, is setforth in the specification, which makes reference to the appendedfigures, in which:

FIG. 1 is a perspective view of a system for arranging streams ofarticles according to certain aspects of the present disclosure andhaving an object manipulation device with a first end effector.

FIG. 2 is a side view of the system of FIG. 1.

FIG. 3 is a close-up perspective view of a portion of the system of FIG.1.

FIG. 4 is a bottom view of one end effector usable with the system ofFIG. 1.

FIG. 5 is a cross-sectional view of the end effector of FIG. 4.

FIG. 6 is a perspective view of the system as in FIG. 1, having a secondend effector.

FIGS. 7A-7D are schematic representations of the possible steps used inarranging two groups of articles according to the disclosure.

FIG. 8 is a schematic representation of one possible flow alongconveyors while groups of articles are arranged according to thedisclosure.

FIG. 9 is a perspective view of the system as in FIG. 1, having a thirdend effector.

FIG. 10 is a bottom view of the end effector of FIG. 9.

FIGS. 11A-11D are schematic representations of possible steps used inarranging two articles using the systems of FIGS. 1-10.

FIG. 12 is a schematic representation of another possible flow alongconveyors while groups of articles are arranged according to thedisclosure.

FIGS. 13A and 13B are schematic representations of flow along conveyorsaccording to conventional methods.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

Reference now will be made in detail to embodiments of the invention,one or more examples of which are illustrated in the drawings. Eachexample is provided by way of explanation of the invention, notlimitation of the invention. In fact, it will be apparent to thoseskilled in the art that various modifications and variations can be madein the present invention without departing from the scope or spirit ofthe invention. For instance, features illustrated or described as partof one embodiment can be used with another embodiment to yield a stillfurther embodiment. Thus, it is intended that the present inventioncovers such modifications and variations as come within the scope of theappended claims and their equivalents.

FIGS. 1 through 12 show examples of systems, end effectors and methodsfor arranging articles within a stream of articles moving along aconveyor into groups of at least two articles. The group of articles canbe arranged as desired on a conveyor by an object manipulation devicesuch as a robot arm or gantry device for inclusion within a pallet layeror for laning. The grouping can occur in a constant speed environment.All articles need not be grouped, and need not be grouped in pairs.However, grouping allows for fewer object manipulation device movementsto orient a pallet layer or control laning. Accordingly, by reducing thenumber of object manipulation device movements, the pallet layer orlaning can be arranged more quickly. For example, the included conveyorsmay be able to be run at a substantially higher linear speed thanconventional conveyors because substantially fewer object manipulationdevice movements are needed.

As shown, a system 100 may include one or more object manipulationdevices such as the illustrated robot arm assemblies 102 or such asgantry devices. Each object manipulation device has an end effectorassembly 104 for arranging articles received from a feed conveyor 106while being transmitted on a pallet layer forming or laning conveyor108. Feed conveyor 106 may be a gapping conveyor or may be downstreamfrom a gapping conveyor. Alternatively, no gapping conveyor could bepresent, and other methods of spacing articles could be used, such as apin conveyor, a diverter, gating, etc.

As shown articles 110 include multiple containers 112. Such containers112 could be held together in any conventional fashion or could be heldwithin a box or carton. Therefore, it should be understood that articles100 could be any palletable or lanable items and could instead beindividual items such as boxes.

Articles 110 are fed along feed conveyor 106 to reach a position nearobject manipulation device 102. The illustrated device, robot armassembly 102, may be mounted on support structure 114 that may beadjacent to either feed 106 or pallet layer forming or laning conveyor108, or it may extend atop either, depending on the application asdiscussed below.

As shown, end effector assembly 104 includes a head portion 116 attachedto an end 118 of the object manipulation device 102. Head potion 116 andend 118 may be, if desired, readily disassembled to switch to adifferent end effector (see end effector 204 in FIG. 6 and end effector304 in FIG. 9) if different articles or groupings are to be used.

End effector 104 also includes two lateral side portions 120. One orboth side portions 120 may be, but need not be, movably attached to headportion 116. As shown, side portions 120 are plates that can both bedriven back and forth via a mechanism, which may be for example gears122 and a chain 124 driven by a motor 128. However, other mechanismscould be used such as gears, belts, hydraulics, pneumatics, etc., tomove one or both side portions. Side portions 120 if movable relative tohead portion 116, can grip two articles 110 a and 110 b once they areplaced together.

A downstream stop portion 126 is attached to head portion 116. Stopportion 126 contacts a downstream side of the more downstream article110 b on conveyor 108. Stop portion 126 need not be driven relative tohead portion 116, but could be if desired. Object manipulation device102 moves along conveyor 108 so that the more downstream article 110 bis contacted and at least slowed until the more upstream of the twoarticles 110 a contacts the end effector via contacting the moredownstream article 110 b. Preferably object manipulation device 102 ismoved along conveyor 108 such that the contact between articles 110 aand 110 b occurs without substantially slowing the more upstream article110 a.

End effector 104 may be moved laterally (arrow a), along conveyingdirection (arrow b), or rotated (arrow c) as desired to place thearticles so that a pallet layer or desired laning may be formeddownstream in a desired pattern. Thus, continuous motion along conveyor108 at or about the speed of the conveyor is substantially maintained,and the throughput can beneficially be higher than if full stoppage wereachieved or a non-constant speed gapping conveyor were used.

FIG. 6 shows system 100 with an alternate end effector 204. As shown,three articles 110 a, 110 b, and 110 c are being grouped between sideportions 220. Two stop portions 226 a and 226 b are provided, eachattached to one of side portions 220 instead of head portion 216,although only one stop portion could be provided attached to only oneside portion or head portion.

The operation of system 100 using end effector 204 is substantiallysimilar as using end effector 104. Alternatively, end effector 204 couldbe used to group only two larger articles 100 (for example 24containers) instead of three articles of 12 containers as shown.

FIGS. 7A-7D show one example of grouping of two articles 110 a and 110 busing end effector 104. As shown, stop portion 126 briefly slows article110 b until article 110 a contacts end effector 104 via contactingarticle 110 b. End effector 104 then moves up and out of the way withoutgripping by side portions 120, although if desired the articles could bemoved, gripped and/or arranged differently by sliding or rotating(either with or without gripping).

FIG. 8 shows a conveyor 106 which may be a constant feed gappingconveyor downstream of another conveyor 105, which may be for example,the outlet of a shrink tunnel, another packaging conveyor, or any supplyconveyor. Conveyor 108 is driven at a speed similar to or the same asconveyor 106 while end effector 104 contacts and groups articles A6 andA7 via contact with stop portion 126, as shown. Articles A8 and A9 aregrouped, and may have been arranged by end effector 104 as well.

FIG. 9 shows system 100 with an alternate end effector 304. As shown,end effector includes a head portion 316, two lateral side portions 320,and a divider 321. Divider 321 may be a plate as shown. Divider 321could alternatively be other structures such as rods, multiple smallerplates, etc. End effector 304 is particularly suited to but not limitedto use with articles that are substantially longer than they are wide,such as a 6×2 can carton.

FIG. 10 shows end effector 304 from below. As shown divider 321 may belocated between lateral side portions 320 and upstream of andperpendicular to stop portion 326. If desired divider 321 may include aholding plate 323 on the end opposite stop portion extending toward oneor both lateral side portions to assist in holding articles with endeffector 304 during positioning on conveyor 108. Divider 321 alsoassists in holding and aligning articles 310 a and 310 b, but may not beneeded to grip and align two articles in all facets of the invention.

If desired, end effector 304 may simply be a modified “modular” versionof end effector 104. If so, a change out of stop portion 126 for stopportion 326/plate 321/plate 323 can be used to convert end effector 104to end effector 304. Cooperative attachment hardware could be providedon heads 116/316 and stop portions 126/326 for a rapid changeover incase different articles are to be run in system 100. FIG. 9 shows plates325 on head 316 removably attached to mounting plates 327 of plate 326via four twist-lock handles 329. Similar structure (not shown) could beused on heads 116 and 216, if desired. Also, alternate cooperativeattachment hardware such as screws, spring loaded pins, cotter pins,clips, etc. could be employed. Alternatively, the system could employthree separate end effectors 104, 204, 304, each attachable to end 118of robot arm assembly 102 in a modular fashion to allow system 100 tohandle different types of articles.

FIGS. 11A-11D show an example of grouping articles 310 a and 310 b usingend effector 304. As shown, stop portion 326 briefly slows article 310 b(FIG. 11B). End effector 304 moves at least partially laterally, withholding plate 323 ensuring that article 310 b remains within endeffector 304. Article 310 a then moves into end effector 304 until italso contacts stop portion 326. At this point articles 310 a and 310 bare located between lateral side portions 320 with divider 321 betweenthem (FIG. 11C). Side portions 320 may be moved inwardly toward articles310 a and 310 b, either individually after an article is received ortogether after both articles are received, to secure the articles withinend effector 304. In FIG. 11C, from the viewing angle to the side ofconveyor 108, articles 310 a and 310 b overlap. In FIG. 11D, head 304has been rotated 90 degrees and articles 310 a and 310 b have beenaccordingly rotated 90 degrees so they are both visible.

As noted, if articles 310 a and 310 b are being fed to conveyor 108 in astraight line, end effector 304 will move laterally after contactingarticle 310 b so that article 310 a can fit within end effector 304 onthe opposite side of divider 321. If articles are being fed in astaggered line, such lateral movement could be unnecessary.

FIG. 12 shows schematically the manipulation of articles so as to formside-by-side groupings. As illustrated, stop portion 326 of end effector304 first contacts a downstream article (A7) to slow it while anupstream article (A6) slides into position within end effector 304.Articles A8 and A9 are laterally arranged in a group (but not rotated asin FIG. 11D), as are articles A10 and A11.

The placement of the articles in any of the systems above is determinedby a desired pallet forming or laning algorithm used downstream.Accordingly, any suitable arrangement of articles can be achieved,limited only by the downstream packaging capabilities or desires of thefacility. Also, the various end effectors disclosed can be used toarrange one, two, three or more articles at a time, as desired for agiven algorithm.

It should be understood that characteristics of any of the systems notedabove can be mixed or matched for any particular desired application.Thus use of the object manipulation devices such as robot arm assembliesor gantry devices, end effectors, methods and systems herein are notlimited to any of the particular arrangements disclosed herein. Anynumber of robot arm assemblies could be employed. For example, FANUCRobotics M420iA or M710iC/50H Robot Arm Assemblies could be used, alongwith Fanuc Robotics R30iA or R30iB Robot Controllers. Similarly, varioustypes of commercially available gantry devices could be employed.Programmable Logic Controllers for the systems could be provided byRockwell Automation/Allen-Bradley, such as CompactLogix or ControlLogixControllers. Rockwell Automation RSView 5000 software or others couldalso be employed in such system, if desired.

The present invention therefore also includes a method of using anobject manipulation device such as a robot arm or gantry device toarrange two articles within a stream of articles moving spaced apart andin a line in a conveying direction on a conveyor 108. In its broad sensethe method may include contacting the more downstream 110 b, 110 c, 310b of the two articles, slowing the more downstream of the two articles,and maintaining contact with the more downstream article whilecontacting the more upstream article 110 a, 110 b, 110 c, 310 a withoutsubstantially slowing the more upstream article. The contacting step canas discussed include using an end effector 104, 204, 304 having twolateral side portions 120, 220, 320 and a downstream stop portion 126,226 a, 226 b, 326. The downstream stop portion may contact a downstreamside of the more downstream article. The method can involve arrangingthe articles along the conveying direction or across the conveyingdirection within the end effector 104, 204, 304. The method can includechange out of the end effector 104, 204, 304 for another end effector soas to allow for different articles to be handled. The method can alsoinclude changing out elements of the end effector 104, 204, 304 such asdownstream stop portion assemblies (with or without dividing plates 321)to allow for different articles to be handled without removing theentire head assembly from end 118 of the robot arm assembly or a gantrydevice 102.

This written description uses examples to disclose the invention,including the best mode, and also to enable any person skilled in theart to practice the invention, including making and using any devices orsystems and performing any incorporated methods. The patentable scope ofthe invention is defined by the claims, and may include other examplesthat occur to those skilled in the art. Such other examples are intendedto be within the scope of the claims if they include structural elementsthat do not differ from the literal language of the claims, or if theyinclude equivalent structural elements with insubstantial differencesfrom the literal languages of the claims.

1. A system for arranging articles within a stream of articles movingspaced apart and in a line in a conveying direction on a conveyor, thesystem comprising: an object manipulation device movable and configuredto form a group of two of the articles in the line together bycontacting and slowing the more downstream of the two articles and thencontacting the more upstream of the two articles without substantiallyslowing the more upstream article.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein theobject manipulation device includes an end effector having a head, twolateral side portions attached to the head, and a downstream stopportion for contacting a downstream side of at least one of the twoarticles.
 3. The system of claim 2, wherein at least one of the lateralside portions is movable toward the other lateral side portion forgripping the two articles. 4-6. (canceled)
 7. The system of claim 2,further including a divider attached to the head between the lateralside portions.
 8. (canceled)
 9. The system of claim 1, wherein theobject manipulation device is drivable so as to move the group relativeto the conveying direction to arrange the group for forming a desiredorientation downstream. 10-11. (canceled)
 12. The system of claim 1,wherein the object manipulation device is drivable so as to move thegroup with constant motion along and synchronized with the conveyor. 13.(canceled)
 14. An end effector for an object manipulation device forarranging together into a group two articles within a stream of articlesmoving spaced apart and in a line in a conveying direction on aconveyor, the end effector comprising: a head portion for attachment tothe object manipulation device; two lateral side portions attached tothe head portion and spaced for receiving the two articles; and adownstream stop portion for contacting a downstream side of at least oneof the articles.
 15. The end effector of claim 14, wherein at least oneof the lateral side portions is movable relative to the head portion andtoward the other lateral side portion for gripping two articles.
 16. Theend effector of claim 14, wherein the downstream stop portion isattached to the head portion.
 17. The end effector of claim 14, whereinthe downstream stop portion is attached to one of the lateral sideportions.
 18. The end effector of claim 17, further including a seconddownstream stop portion attached to the other of the lateral sideportions.
 19. The end effector of claim 14, further including a dividerattached to the head between the lateral side portions.
 20. The endeffector of claim 19, where the divider is attached to the head via thedownstream stop portion.
 21. A method of using an object manipulationdevice to arrange two articles within a stream of articles moving spacedapart and in a line in a conveying direction on a conveyor, the methodcomprising: contacting the more downstream of the two articles; slowingthe more downstream of the two articles; and maintaining contact withthe more downstream of the two articles while contacting the moreupstream of the two articles without substantially slowing the moreupstream article to form a group of the two articles. 22-26. (canceled)27. The method of claim 21, further including driving the objectmanipulation device so as to move the group laterally relative to theconveying direction to arrange the group for forming a desiredorientation downstream.
 28. The method of claim 21, further includingdriving the object manipulation device so as to move the group along theconveying direction to arrange the group for forming a desiredorientation downstream.
 29. The method of claim 21, further includingdriving the object manipulation device so as to rotate the grouprelative to the conveying direction to arrange the group for forming adesired orientation downstream.
 30. The method of claim 21, furtherincluding driving the object manipulation device so as to move the groupwith constant motion along the conveyor.
 31. (canceled)
 32. The methodof claim 21, wherein the maintaining step includes driving the objectmanipulation device so that the more upstream of the two articlescontacts the more downstream of the two articles along the conveyingdirection within an end effector having a head and two lateral sideportions attached to the head.
 33. The method of claim 21, wherein themaintaining step includes driving the object manipulation device so thatthe more upstream of the two articles is located laterally to the moredownstream of the two articles along the conveying direction within anend effector having a head, two lateral side portions attached to thehead, and a divider attached to the head between the lateral sideportions, the more upstream and more downstream articles ending up onopposite sides of the divider.